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16 year old app developer: Plagiarist or Prodigy?

namc.in

111–120 of 154 posts

Re: 16 year old app developer: Plagiarist or Prodigy?

#111

"Such kind of people give Women in Code a really, really bad name, because sweetie, it takes tonnes of hardwork, cutting through competition, persistent dealing with sexism and lot of patience to make place for yourself in this male-dominant coveted industry." It's quite ironic that in a sentence about sexism and a male-dominated industry, the author addresses the developer by 'sweetie'.

This isn't a hit piece by some bro-grammer who doesn't want to share space with a 16 year old girl, this is a woman who had to carve out space for herself in a male dominated industry. She's looking at the software equivalent of that kid who took a clock slightly apart and put it in a cardboard box and became an engineering prodigy because some idiot thought it looked like a cartoon bomb timer and saying that we need to back up and look at actual female programming icons, like Margaret Hamilton (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Hamilton_(scientist)).

Re: 16 year old app developer: Plagiarist or Prodigy?

#112
post #85

I have a related question. Since when is a 16 year old who makes an app a prodigy? Even if she did write it all by herself? I was getting paid to make back office software for local businesses at 13 in 1998 with absolutely no help from anyone and no one called me a prodigy. I'm sure tons of NH people have similar stories. I seem to remember a survey at one point that the average person on HN who actually codes starte…

It's easy enough to write code when you're young, but to write something that is being actively used is impressive. With that being said, I do find the worship of young people in tech a bit worrying. Over the years I've worked with a handful of talented developers that have started from a very young age, and over the years they become very good at a relatively young age. By the time they reach 20, they're senior-leve…

My brother was a security consultant for a few major websites that you've most likely used yourself at the age of 16, many years ago. He knew more about security at 16 than most developers I work with today. Don't discount someone's knowledge or abilities because of an arbitrary age.

He's still successfully protecting servers from getting hacked today, when pretty much every other server is getting hacked nowadays.

Re: 16 year old app developer: Plagiarist or Prodigy?

#113
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, "sweetie" is a word older women use condescendingly towards younger men or women.

Sexism is not limited to men on the side of who does it (nor on women on the side that is the target).

The point is that, in the South, sweetie isn't a gendered term. I'm a man and get called sweetie every day in a non-demeaning sense. When used pejoratively, it's essentially "bless your heart" condensed into a noun.

Interestingly, at least in my area, it's generally only used by women and effeminate gay men. As a result, actually using the term does imply effeminacy, so a straight man using it to insult a woman may be unknowingly implying something about himself which he'd find embarrassing.

Re: 16 year old app developer: Plagiarist or Prodigy?

#114

> But after reading her blogpost, her stackoverflow/github history in an attempt to understand her struggles as a self-taught programmer; I figured that there was no struggle at all! Self taught programmers are full of numerous questions, but she didn’t seem to have any! Neither is there any progression of all the tasks she did. This is just one of possible approaches. For example, I actively ask very rarely, the mos…

Yeah, the lack of a Stackoverflow or Github history doesn't mean someone didn't struggle as a programmer or is lying about their abilities. Maybe they just don't use the sites on a regular basis. Maybe they don't use them as a logged in member and actually get their answers as a guest based on what they typed in Google search. Or perhaps they found some other way to learn that didn't involve open source coding or asking questions online. Heck, I know I'm in that basket; the last time I asked a question on Stackoverflow was probably about two years ago, and even then that was probably the first one. And even to this day, I basically don't use Github at all, so anyone looking for my profile would also find no evidence of a 'struggle'.

There's no reason the person discussed in this story couldn't be in the same situation.

Re: 16 year old app developer: Plagiarist or Prodigy?

#115
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience is different, the only people I've ever heard use "Sweetie," besides towards children, is older men being condescending towards younger women, making sure they know their place, and older men who use it towards younger women as a term of endearment unaware that it's usually used in a condescending manner. I've literally never heard an woman say it outside of speaking to children, however, I think it mig…

I've literally never heard a man use it. Or a woman. On the other hand many anecdotes does not equal data...

It definitely has firm roots female geek culture, and signals extreme condescension.

Re: 16 year old app developer: Plagiarist or Prodigy?

#117

I have a related question. Since when is a 16 year old who makes an app a prodigy? Even if she did write it all by herself? I was getting paid to make back office software for local businesses at 13 in 1998 with absolutely no help from anyone and no one called me a prodigy. I'm sure tons of NH people have similar stories. I seem to remember a survey at one point that the average person on HN who actually codes starte…

Yeah, if a 16 year old makes an app like this it's certainly a good thing, but I'd be hesitant to say it makes them a prodigy. Kids are not stupid, and a smart, determined kid or teen can often outdo an adult or team of adults when it comes to programming, especially if it's something they're personally interested.

Look at the golden age of games over here in the UK if you need proof of that. You've got many stories of famous game designers and developers starting as kids with a ZX Spectrum or Amiga and learning to code extremely impressive games in the teens or younger (and sometimes ending up employed in the field before they've even left school).

There's also the fan game, ROM hack and game mod fields, where quite a few notable users are between 12 and 15 years old, yet have learnt enough about the hobby to learn how to write assembly code and build tools to help reverse engineer a game made by a team of hundreds.

Add to this the no doubt thousands of great website and app developers in the same age range as the subject of the article, and well, while writing an app at 16 is impressive, it's certainly not some impossible task that couldn't have been done without outside help.

Re: 16 year old app developer: Plagiarist or Prodigy?

#118
post #22
post #14

Young women interested in programming rare enough, let her get some help, let her have all the praise, that's okay. In years to come she'll hopefully stick to the field and that's what is important. Not that she wrote 100% of her app. What we must never forget, writing the code is just the small part, marketing and selling software is the bigger challenge. She's obviously good at that and will prevail no matter what…

No, it's not ok, because as the original author highlights, such frauds diminish genuinely working women in tech (as is the author). For the same reason we don't give medals to the sportsmen that are caught cheating.

Yes, it is okay.

Re: 16 year old app developer: Plagiarist or Prodigy?

#119
post #86

I‘m sorry but the author is indeed a bully. I get the point why it may be unethical to copy and claim it’s someone’s own work but afaik the “real” coders were alright with this. The author tries with all effort to proof that this kid can’t Code by saying how experienced he is and that he was also smart when he was her age. For me this sounds like being very jealous and frustrated.

The author is women. And this just seems to be case where family 'helps' kid to chart their independent path. It is pretty common and I have known many people who would hire some contractors to write some mobile apps that can be used to garnish resume for college admissions etc. People have been doing it forever but with help of social media they can generate lot of support and sympathy also if they fit in right slot…

So what the author is a woman?

Re: 16 year old app developer: Plagiarist or Prodigy?

#120

> But after reading her blogpost, her stackoverflow/github history in an attempt to understand her struggles as a self-taught programmer; I figured that there was no struggle at all! Self taught programmers are full of numerous questions, but she didn’t seem to have any! Neither is there any progression of all the tasks she did. This is just one of possible approaches. For example, I actively ask very rarely, the mos…

Why do people always try to inconspicuously promote their products on hacker news by posting links to them in the comments... I find this rather annoying.

If you're not shilling, you're not selling.
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